:: mindshare ::

What we're going to explore is the ability for you to open your mind, to identify opportunities. Why is it that some people can see things before others? Why is it that they can actually do things with these ideas? How is it they can see these?

If you can imagine a horse in a race – why do many of them wear blinkers? To keep them focussed on the straight and narrow. What do they miss? All the noise, action, and in our examples, opportunities in the market place.

What we have to practice in Mindshare is to remove our blinkers – have a wide view, a wide vision, so we can look at everything as they pass by.

Mindshare is also about exploring some creativity – playing with ideas, because ideas are worth nothing. If we become attached to ideas, we've become attached with our ego. We defend them, and think of the energy that we could put into growing ideas as opposed to defending them.

Mindshare is about allowing yourself to look into your mind – can you see the next opportunity?

Let's play! Innovation
Mindset Who's driving this thing?
Creativity

Let's play!


"I was seldom able to see an opportunity until it had ceased to be one."
Mark Twain

Mark Twain said this a long time ago, and you can see how modern innovation and enterprise really is. What this is really saying is 20/20 hindsight. Yes, 20/20 hindsight. Can you imagine, and don't you hate those people that create ideas and make them happen? You may be standing in the shower or driving to work. You have a great idea and three months later there it is in the marketplace. What is it about those people that can do that? How come they can do it and how come most of us can't? As you explore, you will discover the skills to make it happen, and more importantly, start to practice that behaviour that we all look for – the enterprising mind set.

Entrepreneurship

Most people still think about entrepreneurs as risk–takers, gamblers, people that hope things happen. Why is it in our community we only hear about failed entrepreneurs on the news? Why is it that we always associate entrepreneurs as risky people doing risky things? Why not just call them gamblers? Entrepreneurs actually do a lot of hard work, and are into the management of risk.

Entrepreneurs create three different types of wealth. These are:

Now, you may have heard about the creation of wealth. We operate on three levels:

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Mindset

What is Mindset?

Mindset is the process of creating or seizing an opportunity and pursuing it regardless of the resources under your control. Entrepreneurs have the inner strength to pursue something new or different. This is because any time something new or different is introduced, it is almost always rejected.

"The only constant is change". What a wonderful throw away line! Beneath this statement, however, is fear. The reason new ideas are often rejected is because of a fear of change. Why do so many people fear change? Why is it that there's so few people in the market place that actually embrace change?

Important!

Innovation is not a quick fix, however rewards through innovation are often immediate.

To achieve these rewards, an entrepreneur must adopt a long term view for competitive advantage.

This long term view can be taught – it is not rocket science! If you have developed technical and management skills you can also develop innovation skills.

Wouldn't it be great when you complete these activities, you could be the world's best entrepreneur? Oh no! It's not that easy. This is just the first step. What you will have are the beginnings of the enterprising mindset (practise makes perfect!), the tools of innovation (more choices, less reaction!) and a network of like minded men and women.

The giving network and the taking network

Entrepreneurs belong to a network – the giving network or the taking network. The taking network is one most of us can relate to. It involves meeting as many people as possible and giving out as many business cards as possible. When you arrive home with a handful of business cards you think to yourself "Who were all these people?"

The giving network is quite different. It's quite demanding. This is where you attend a group, business, community or social meeting and ask yourself "What can I bring to this network? What opportunities have I identified for people at this network?" It's very interesting to note that these sorts of giving networks are the ones that flourish, the ones that grow, the ones that can achieve minimum effort for maximum output.

Taking the blinkers off

I'd like to summon up that vision of a horse with a pair of blinkers. Why do horses wear blinkers? It's so they can see only straight down that racetrack, straight ahead. And in business we call that 'sticking to the knitting'. And the problem is, if you've got your blinkers on what is the first thing that you'll miss? They're those things on the peripheral. They're normally called 'competitors'. And as you start a new business and take a new venture into the marketplace, why on Earth would your competitors let you enter, survive and thrive? After all, you are taking their money.

What we say is about what is entrepreneurship and what is innovation? There are multiple definitions. The way I remember it is very simple. The entrepreneur has the mindset to remove his or her blinkers to see as many opportunities as possible. He or she will pick up the tools of innovation which we'll explore and use through this program to adjust his or her business for maximum choice. We can see how we go.

What are these blinkers, and how do we get them off?

To remove the blinkers, you must be open–minded. You have to look for and understand that gaps occur in the market place. It is also important to consider the role complacency plays in removing the blinkers. We may accept that a linear approach is the only way to achieve a particular outcome.

Taking the blinkers off provides any number of opportunities for entrepreneurs. They learn to expect the unexpected, and realise that opportunities exist everywhere.

Entrepreneurs must also be aware of self–perpetuating myths. How can administration be innovative? If the administration of an organisation is effective, the organisation can become efficient, powerful, and move to maximise strategic choice. Management style and culture have a major effect on the organisation. Entrepreneurs must also beware of averages – if the environment is out of control, there are opportunities.

Time to choose

There are a number of decisions entrepreneurs need to make when deciding on which ideas to choose. These are:

The new idea does not have to be a world beater. You just need to capture value from it!

The reason we have this mindset is because of ... the way we are taught.

From a very early age, we are taught that things happen for a reason, which leads to a system where everything fits. The process we are taught is this:

Logically we know this isn't true. Entrepreneurs know that we live and operate in an imperfect world where the market place is chaotic and out of control. It is in this chaos that uncertainties, and thus opportunities, arise. Of course, to see these opportunities we need remove the blinkers.

Activity

Think of a good idea you have seen recently – it may have been a new style of running shoes, a new restaurant with a different theme, or a household item that reduces cleaning.

  • What made it a good idea?
  • What do you think was going through the mind of the person who came up with the idea?
  • How did they form the idea and make it financially viable?
  • What could they see that we can't?
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Creativity

Most of us have forgotten how to be creative. Most of us, sometimes all of us, think about, "Gee, I should be more creative." How many of you do something creative? How many of you would play an instrument? How many of you would draw? How many of you cook? Is that an act of creativity? Some of you may say it's an act of survival.

Another funny thing about entrepreneurship and enterprising behaviour is to think about intuition. We're not allowed to use that word because it's very hard to measure in serious business but, gee, another word for that might be wisdom. Also, practice thinking. Start to look at things differently. Remember, lose those blinkers.

Activity

Creativity means considering eight ways of getting money out of one idea.

Quick test – you're going to sell table tennis balls. Work out eight ways to make money now! You have 10 minutes.
Why our current thinking is inadequate

If I'm right and you're wrong, look at the energy we have just wasted talking about an idea that really is worth nothing.

Why don't we start to think about thinking?

Why be a creative thinker

Most of us have forgotten how to be creative. Creative thinking affects the way we behave – it is positive, constructive and upbeat. When we start to think about thinking our resistance to new ideas reduces and we are far more receptive to new, different and challenging views. Think of the opportunities that we can now consider!

So you reckon you're creative!!

Are you working hard or working smart? If you think you're already creative, consider the following points:

We work in teams so that we can all work less. Teams, however, don't work because they spend too much time reacting and not enough time thinking.

The reasons meetings are so long is because we haven't thought about why we are having a meeting! If we understand why we are having a meeting (and maybe the purpose of that meeting is to change or introduce something new) we would have already considered what the resistance to that change will be and what conflict may occur. This way we can put into place a series of steps to increase the comfort and reduce the risk. After all, we are in the business of change. Anything new in the market will change someone's behaviour.

When thinking about ideas, remember:

The next meeting you have, not only have an agenda, but also have a purpose! And reduce the time by 10%. Don't have a 1 hour meeting – have a 50 minute meeting. It's all about behavioural change and starting to look at things differently.

Each idea or opportunity is valuable in the sense that it mightn't be the right time now, but it could be tomorrow. We must learn to keep and value every idea. The entrepreneur seems to know when to take the 'right idea' to market. This concept will be discussed in detail in Part 2.

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Innovation

Innovation is not a one hit wonder – it has to be achievable, measurable and repeatable. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could do a course, attend a seminar, and all of a sudden the facilitator, the presenter, the lecturer comes up to you with a magic wand, hits you on the head, and poof! – you've turned into an entrepreneur. If only it was that easy.

What we're really worrying about, and what we're going to focus about and thinking about is how long it takes to embrace the enterprising mindset, and if you've got that, then can you identify which innovation tool to use.

Innovation is not a one hit wonder. It has to be practiced. It has to be encouraged. It has to be forgiving, because you will make mistakes. But most of all, innovation is about being achievable, about being measurable and about being repeatable.

Innovation is not invention.

Innovation – achievable, measurable, repeatable. Can you imagine a still pond? You pick up that small stone and you throw it across the top of the water, and it skips, in achievable, measurable skips. Most of us couldn't throw that stone right across the pond, but the analogy is innovation – small achievable steps; small measurable steps; small repeatable steps. That's the only way we're going to achieve our personal and professional goals.

So everyone's doing it! Ever noticed how every organisation has the message "We are innovative" to the market. The sad thing is, they wouldn't know when innovation snuck up behind them and tapped them on the shoulder. It must a fad! Surely it can't last! But hang on ...

What would they know?!

Innovation is not a guarantee of competitiveness, but a firm cannot be competitive without it.

What do they know?

So you want to be an innovative organisation?

A creative mindset and creative and enterprising attitudes and behaviours create an innovative organisation. Within this type of organisation, ideas are valued. There is a constant search for the new. The question "How can we be better?" is often asked. What does this look like in an organisation?

Do you:

What do you do? Are you committed? Do you have the energy to make it happen? Are you 'using' a team to achieve your goals? How do you know when you got there? Are you planning to fail because you failed to plan?

An organization's heart beat

It's really interesting as entrepreneurs and innovators that when we often start off with a new idea it's very exciting. We have an instrument that we use in this program that's called the heart rate monitor. Quite often as you know when you get excited your heart's like this – bang, bang, click, click, click, click, click. Isn't it exciting – click, click, click, click, click. Everyone around us is so upbeat, positive, constructive, energetic – isn't it fantastic?

Why is it that most start up companies don't sell anything? Because about the fact they are out of frequency or they don't understand the heartbeat of their customers. Most of us have to in fact understand the rate of change and the resistance to change and the fear of change of our target market and those customers.

Most of us try to sell to people with money, and most of these people are mature businesses. Their heartbeat sounds like this – click – steady – as – she – goes. We – don't – want – to – change. So when you bubble into that buyer's office – bang, bang, bang, bang, isn't this exciting – click, click, click, click, click – what have you just done? You've scared them!

You're going to ask them to change their behaviours in one meeting. I don't think so.

Think about life. You know how easy it is in life to have a relationship? And what's it based on? Communication, gaining trust and doing what you say. And that's really easy in life. It's funny in business – we have one meeting and after that one meeting (probably 30 minutes) we think we've bonded for life. I don't think so.

If we can't match the frequency of our heartbeats, how are we going to sell products and services?

Different industries have different heartbeats. Different companies have different heartbeats. Different organisations have different heartbeats. The entrepreneur understands the pace, the heartbeat of that organisation to adjust the way they communicate, their speed of action and their understanding so they are viewed as a friend, an ally, a trusted partner, rather than someone who is communicating in a foreign language, at such a pace it's all too hard. So please be careful to take their pulse and adjust yours, not the other way around.

To develop an innovative organisation:

Activity

How would you recognise if you were working for an innovative organisation? What does it look like?

Here are a couple of key points that are often confused:

  1. Leaders do not necessarily lead innovation, they drive it.
  2. Leaders get involved at key points, creation and launch.
  3. Big picture goals are the drivers, not specific targets in innovation.
  4. Innovation is not a separate strategy. It must be linked to the corporate goals.
  5. A project champion is vital.
  6. A learning culture is essential.
  7. Multiple sources of information is vital for innovation.
  8. People who challenge conventional wisdom are needed.

This looks pretty straightforward, so how do we make it happen?

The things that we must remember when embarking on the journey of innovation is that everything we do should be:

Achievable, measurable, repeatable

We need to develop a plan. If you don't have a plan, how do you know if we got there? In your plan you need to consider:

You need to include as many people in the planning process as possible. As the old saying goes, two heads are better than one.

Innovation in action

Innovative organisations possess a number of characteristics. To turn your organisation into an innovative one, you need to consider the following points.

Your organisation needs to focus on the market and the customer and recognise the importance of minimum effort for maximum results. The wallets (your customers) make you money. Quite often the wallets don't know what they want and the organisation needs to learn how and when to lead them.

If your ideas don't perform, pick up another one, screen it, plan it and bring it into play – you must learn to let go of great ideas that don't have any commercial success.

The market doesn't wait for you – you have to be in it to play the game. We must learn that the wallets' perception is everything.

As an entrepreneur you are creative. How are you going to develop the attitudes and behaviours of holding creative people and their contributions in high esteem to continue to grow your business?

Encourage by example. Acknowledge new ideas and the need for taking measured risks.

Be proud that your organisation is innovative! Encourage everyone to look for innovative opportunities.

Demonstrate that change creates opportunities. Reinforce that our business embraces change and does not reject it.

We work hard to achieve professional and personal goals. When they are achieved, why not celebrate and reward success as soon as possible – after all, why are we doing this?

Innovation as 'normal'

The next phase of strengthening the foundations of innovation in your organisation often include the following key points:

Innovation as an institution

Can you imagine innovation becoming 'normal'? I wonder what that would look like? Maybe you're already working in a 'normal' organisation now! Or, do you want to create one?

For innovation to become 'normal' we need:

  1. The recognition that organisations are full of people, and not systems, technology or products.
  2. People make money, people create relationships, not systems, technology or products.
  3. Most people favour recognition and encouragement when compared to financial reward.
  4. As a leader, how do you get out of the way of peoples' creativity and innovative behaviour?
    • Through open communication, trust should be established. If this occurs, what are you left to manage?
    • Encourage people to think and reflect as opposed to react (minimum effort for maximum result).
  5. Lead by example and expect all to take responsibility.

It is important within the organisation to develop an attitude that with innovation some mistakes are acceptable – not too many though! Managers also need to be taught the skills to manage creativity and creative people.

Innovation – people make 'it' happen

To make things happen, an organisation needs to be proactive, create new ideas, respond to change when needed and continuously create the new and refine the old. It is also important for an organisation to keep every idea that comes up. The idea mightn't be right now but it might be right tomorrow.

Ensure you record and add to your knowledge bank – after all, information is power. If you know it, and the competitors don't, who's going to win the game? Also remember to stay current with market events – keep listening, keep talking, keep learning.

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Who's driving this thing?

Your organisation can be compared to a boat in a storm. The roles include:

Because of these different roles within the organisation, it is important to know your team. Thinkers within your organisation decide the route the boat should go. They specialise in concepts and developing leading edge opportunities. Makers are the crew. They are good at translating opportunities and are especially competent in executing plans. Traders are the people at both ends of the route. They specialise in connections, create alliances and leverage core capabilities.

What are you – a thinker, maker or trader? Quite often members of your team might be great traders, but you put them in the role of a maker. In this case, are you working hard or are you working smart?

Managing creative people

What do you think a creative person 'looks' like? Do you think of someone with their 'head in the clouds' who doesn't seem to do anything we can measure straight away, or do you think of someone who can recognise the next opportunity?

When managing creative people, there are a number of strategies to use to avoid tension. These include:

What sort of organisation should I create?

You have a choice on what you would like your organisation to be. You have to decide on one of the following three types:

The choice is yours!

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